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February 15, 2008

Partisan Split On Clemens Explained

During the hearing, Clemens cited his friendship with Bush's father, President George H.W. Bush, a baseball fan who regularly attends Houston Astros' games. Clemens said he was on a recent hunting trip when the elder Bush called with words of support. ...

"All the pieces fell into place given his friendship, his personal friendship with the Bush family. ... It would be the easiest thing in the world for George W. Bush, given the corrupt proclivities of his administration, to say Roger Clemens is an American hero ... It was clear to me they were carrying someone's water."

Clemens constructed a horseshoe pit at his home in Texas home at the suggestion of GHWB.

In 1991, while still pitching for the Boston Red Sox, Clemens visited Bush's home in Kennebunkport, Maine, and pitched horseshoes with the president. ... George W. Bush is also a Clemens friend. ... In 2006, USA Today reported Clemens has a standing invitation to dine at the White House.

And George Mitchell (Democrat) was Senate Majority Leader for much of GWHB's presidency.

Waxman said Davis and Mark Souder of Indiana were the only Republicans on the committee who actually read through the depositions that were filed last week. Souder was also one of the few committee members who refused Clemens’s request for a private meeting before the hearing. And it was Souder who stood out from his Republican colleagues by stating during the hearing that the depositions were "fairly devastating" against Clemens. ...

Speaking of Clemens, [Souder] added, "It wasn't an accident that word got to me that he's a Republican, or he said that President Bush called him." ...

A Republican staff member of the committee, who was granted anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the hearings, said the partisanship arose Wednesday more because of Waxman than because of Republican support for Clemens. Waxman is a tough Democrat who can take on a prosecutorial tone, he said, and some of the Republicans reflexively did not want to help him.

Some Republicans also thought it was good for them to argue that the Democratic-controlled Congress was wasting time with baseball. That was a theme on Fox TV news coverage Wednesday, even as the news channel broadcast hours of coverage of the hearing. ...

The Republican staff member said that party leaders on the committee instructed members not to attack Waxman ... [so they] ttacked McNamee as a proxy.

The Times theory sounds more plausible than that of McNamee's lawyer (I repeat: Clemens won't be pardoned, and it wouldn't help him any if he were), and IT'S stupid enough. You don't like Waxman, so you go out of your way to lick the boots of an arrogant, lying dolt like Rocket? Makes sense to me!

ARRGH! Why am I even thinking about this stuff? Roger has dead to me since 1997! I hate this Congress! McNamee is slime! I hate Waxman! I hate Burton! I really, really hate Randy Hardin! It's baseball, Ray! People will come! LET'S PLAY BALL SO I CAN GET THIS CRAP OUT OF MY HEAD!!!!!!

Turning something like "finding out the truth" into a partisan issue is pathetic enough, but failing to do any research and still mouthing off is simple incompetence. These people should be embarrassed-- but that would involve a code of ethics. No wonder they don't trust anyone whose values differ from theirs.

They HAVE a Code of Ethics.They just can't help themselves. And they have made sure their Code is a joke.You're right: going through a hearing like this without preparing is unforgivable, but most of these slobs don't read the bills they vote for or against either. Heck, Clemens could get elected to Congress, and he'd be far from the dumbest or least ethical Rep there. Horrifying, but true.

I know it took me awhile to weigh in here, but I am sure some of you would expect me to so here I am.

I too was disgusted to see the clear partisanship that was going on during that hearing.

I am definitely biased against Roger Clemens, but I thought that Waxman and that Congressman from Maryland did a great job in cross-examining Clemens.

It was quite clear to me that the Republicans were out to carry the water of Roger's defense attorney by continuing to pound on McNamee's credibility while doing nothing to question Roger's story.

I was embarrassed and ashamed by Dan Burton's tirade.

What an f**ked up country we live in if even the issue of steroids becomes an intractible politically charged issue!

I think that the rest of the country realized that Roger was lying. Too bad the Republicans were too focused on their agenda to realize this.

If anyone wants to know why Congress has a 19% approval rating, look no further than that Clemens hearing and the Arlen Specter investigation into Tapegate.

I started out being on the side of Congress and wanting to find the truth as to whether Roger did steroids or not. By the end of the hearing, I wondered "don't these guys have anything more important to do, like the fixing the economy and the war and stuff?"